Archives for June 2017

The Texas Black Expo is just what you may expect, but sooo much more. The expo is a great opportunity not only to support black owned businesses, but also offers some great showcases and seminars from everything from entertainment, to health and wellness to real talk from successful professionals. Last weekend I had the opportunity to not only check out some of the great vendors at the expo but also get a little insight in the age old question, what are the differences between men and women? In the Diva Dialogues Entertainment Attorney Jalene Mack brought together a power packed panel to take on the challenge of “The Great Divide” and see just how different do many and women feel about things from business to love and relationships.

This Texas Black Expo seminar was a great look into the differences, sometimes subtle, sometime distinct, between how men and women see the world. This type of conversation can either be lots of fun or down right argumentative so it was an extra bonus that Jalene was not just an entertainment attorney but an actor as well, and able to keep everyone both on task and having fun. With a feisty panel of professionals you who are enjoying themselves and openly sharing you almost cannot help yourself but get wrapped up in the fun. The panelists ranging from philanthropist, to attorneys, to radio station owners, to successful entrepreneurs and even a special guest Golden Brooks, a successful actress and business owner most known for her role on Girlfriends.

So what is the take on the great divide? Actually in listening to the responses you begin to understand women and men are looking at the same side of the different coin. Although initially it may seem like two completely different approaches, the more you communicate and open your mind the more clarity you see on the differences. Whether big or small, however, the panel offered some great insight on how they take on the challenges of being a business owner. Here are a couple of pearls that most of us know, but often forget to apply and use in the way to approach both business and life:

Jalene Mack – Entertainment Attorney and founder of MPAC: On networking Jalene recommends entering into it with purpose. When you are focused in on finding opportunities you make sure networking actually enhances your business.

Golden Brooks – Actress and Entrepreneur: When faced with the challenge of being an African American woman in business Golden found strength by walking in her own light. By knowing herself she is not diminished by others but can use it as a basis of celebration for the unique person she is and the distinctive gifts she brings to the table

CleRenda McGrady – Author and Philanthropist – in referencing her favorite movie scene in The Wizard of Oz CleRenda draws strength from the idea that the power is within you all along, you just have to believe it for yourself.

Velma Trayham – PR Expert recommends business owners really invest the time and energy to know their market. When you don’t waste time and money focusing on being everything to everyone you can focus on making real connections with your target audience

Keisha Nicole – DJ for 97.9 The Box: In speaking to purpose Keisha is inspired by knowing that if God gave her a purpose, he also blesses with the gifts and capacity to carry it out if you are willing to put in the work.

Al Rucker – owner of Midtown Bail Bonds – For those who do not network Al recommends using the energy to focus on building their brand. After time a strong enough brand gets people searching for them instead of the other way around.

Danny Norris – Attorney with Norris & Norris Attorneys Essential tips for starting a business are to work out a business plan, a mentor, and the capital needed to get the business off the ground

Marcus Bowers – Owner of She’s Happy Hair – In his journey to hair mogul Marcus made a commitment to himself to just try to be better every day than he was the day before

Oscar Hines – Owner of KYND Radio shared his favorite quote that captured his life philosophy – “It’s not the number of breaths you have in life, it is the number or moments that take your breath away”

All in all the Texas Black Expo is a great way to support your community with businesses you love and others you have yet to fall in love with. Most importantly it is a great opportunity to have more breath taking moments and learn something along the way.

Getting all dressed up every day is usually out of reach for me. Most days I am on the run. I get dressed in the dark, grab my kids and spend the rest of the day on the run. It’s safe to say that most days my appearance isn’t magazine worthy. But there are other days when it totally is. I appreciate the opportunity to pamper myself and get all dolled up for an adult night of fun. The awards gala at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Summit most recently provided me the perfect medium for my love of dress up.

Now by excited I mean by the result, not all the work it takes to get there. After a busy day of seminars I was still left with the daunting challenge of getting kids to the sitter, getting make up done, curling my hair, throwing on a dress and doing it all without breaking out in a cold sweat. As a working mom I will say that the challenge can almost make just staying at home easier. But easier is not always better. As a working woman it is important to play dress up every once in a while. It is a great reminder of not just who we were before the kids and responsibilities but who we are, our core. We all deserve to feel like a princess every once in a while even far after the dream of a fairytale life has ended.

So with the running and curling and rush I walked into the gala still in rushing mommy mode, but once I walked it I finally received the fruits of my labors. Looking amazing has a funny way of making you feel amazing and the walk you walk when you feel amazing is a must in every woman’s life. Not just the walk but the talk as you see yourself as your best self, even if it is just superficial. And as people do their second take wondering if you are the same hectic business woman they saw earlier, you can do an internal victory lap. Sometimes you may not have it all or be Wonder Woman but at least you look great faking the funk.

No matter what you do, there are usually other businesses or people who do the exact same thing, so how do you show your brand is different to the audience that matters to you? This is a question that entrepreneurs wrestle on a daily and at my final seminar at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Summit we received some great insight from a master in his field, Raymon Ray. In the seminar “How to Build Your Personal Brand” Ramon Ray provided some simple but essential strategies for separating yourself from your competition to becoming the “go to” person in your area and for your target market.

This seminar created an unmatched energy as within the first minutes the audience was excited for what was to come. Raymon Ray delivered on all counts in this seminar. As I walked in room everyone was connecting and volunteers were sharing their brand information. This is the type of energy that gets you excited to not just listen but also participate and dare to push yourself further than you would normally go. While quite out of the ordinary for a seminar, it paired perfectly with the enthusiasm and mastery displayed by Mr. Ray. The very best thing is that Raymond Ray preaches what he teaches. You can catch him in areas from AT&T to his own magazine Smart Hustle. The four personal traits of personal branding to Be Happy, Be Excited, Be Patient, and Be Focused were displayed masterfully as he shared five gems in personal branding

1 – Be a Rock Star: People want to rock with rock stars so make sure your presentation isn’t a no frills water downed version of what makes you different. If you have attributes you think are special then share them and don’t skimp on the razzle dazzle

2 – Make a Personal Connection: Networking should be strategic so that you are also building relationships and connections with people. When done properly you can really cultivate a circle of personal influence that can carry your brand a lot further a lot faster than you can yoursel

3 – Get your personal branding toolbox in order. Things like a personal website, blog, and active social engagement are a requirement in this day and age so don’t slack on sharing the story of you and what makes you different,

4 – Just Do It: It is easy to get so busy working on small things you forget to add some big things into your larger vision. Whether it is an event or sizzle video there are some great ways to tout your talents and increase your audience.

5 – Maximize Media Exposure: Even small business in this day of connectivity can get some major media exposure if they work at it. Take some time to get to know journalist in your area so when a topic comes up that applies to you, they have you on special for an experts input. By working to not pitch yourself but educate on a topic you can easily build a reputation as an authority. Even something as simple as creating a regular show can help catapult your media exposure.

This was a great seminar that showed you how to immediately put some ideas into action while leaving attendees feeling both motivated and empowered. With just 5 easy steps to get you on your way to becoming local celebrity in your field what’s stopping you?!!

On Day 2 of the Black EnterpriseEntrepreneur Summit I hesitantly walked into the seminar entitled “How to Use Technology to Protect and Grow Your Business“ and to my surprise I was quickly realized I was getting a lot more than I bargained for.

The panelist of Claire Sulmers with Fashion Bomb Daily, LaShonda Johnson with the Houston Housewives of Finance and Everette Taylor of Skurt were a fierce compilation of business savvy, opportunity spotting business superstars all ready and willing to share their experience and knowledge with the crowd. Each in their own way were innovators, finding opportunity and pushing through to success when many others would have only seen despair. Everett, for instance, when from being homeless, unable to get a call back on job applications due to stereotyping, to starting, running, selling and restarting some powerhouse marketing and IT companies. Other panelists, like LaShonda Johnson, left lucrative businesses to take a risk to uncharted territory in pursuit of their passion. All, however, were able to share powerful messages in utilizing the things around you and inside you to leverage your mindset and your business.

While I came in the seminar expecting a full-fledged jump into the world of technology, the talk took on technology more as any knowledge you could apply for advancement. Yes, technology encompasses the gadgets and devices that have become a part of our lives, but the perspective that was really valuable is that these things are only beneficial if you use them to evolve in reaching your customer base. A great example of this came from Claire with Fashion Bomb Daily. While she is known for her phenomenal fashion blog, she noticed that readers to the blog were transitioning to Instagram. As technology transitioned she also transitioned her delivery method to Instagram and now has more than 1 million followers along with the base she developed in readers to the actual blog. She was able to harness the resource to make an impact and increase her audience.

The focus to again use resources to connect with your audience was applied to branding by the panel. Everette was able to provide some great way use technology as a connection to building authentic relationships. Data today can be overwhelming and in and of itself mean little to nothing. It becomes important when you can utilize data and talking to people to see where your audience is and how you can better serve them. By focusing on his business before worrying about all the press and accolades Everette was able to build a model and later use his success to replicate market growth for other companies. His keys to growth included:

Making a Product Market fit: Focusing in on creation of products that stick with the market

Determining Ideal Customer Profile

Establishing growth processes so there is structure as the idea and company grows. Everett uses the ICE test (Impact, Confidence, and Ease) to determine if structure and projects are really a good fit looking for the ideal of High confidence and ease of implementation

Getting the right people: By surrounding himself with a team members who are resilient to failure and have strong mindsets he ensures what he envisions his team can then work to implement.

The seminar was a great reminder that technology is not just having the newest idea or process, but it the using these innovations to make more informed decisions and deeper relationships with your customers. The seminar was a gold mind of ideas that you can apply quickly to make big changes to your bottom-line.

Day 2 of the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Summit was jammed pack with information and motivation that could really catapult your career and business to the next level. Before the conference I heard several entrepreneurs express all the reasons why doing a conference like this was a waste of their time. Perhaps it was money or time or just the thought of what could they teach you. The truth is we always can continue to learn and when you have an opportunity to learn from someone who has gained success you have a great opportunity to make real life applications to your own situation.

So what makes the potential of the conference life altering? Well for one there is access. The speakers gathered at event represented the gems in their field all with powerful information to share. Take the “Why it Pays to Swim with the Sharks” seminar for instance. On one stage you had Brandon Andrews, a producer for Shark Tank as well as Benjamin Young and Lydia Evans, founders of Sworkit and SW&G Essentials respectively, who have both had the experience of pitching for Shark Tank. Now talk about a realistic push to move forward with your idea as their stories were not success fairy tales. Quite the opposite the stories gave the full gambit of challenges faced by an entrepreneur, from starting, long nights and early mornings, the bitter defeats and the triumphs that define owning your own business. Through it all the conference offered a great reminder that even with failure there is no end of the road. After the no there is still a fork in the road between quitting and continuing on that could determine success.

Access to really power players did not stop at the seminars. During the luncheon the discussion was joined by Charles Koch, Chairman & CEO of Koch Industries. Known not just for his million dollar businesses, but also as a prime political contribution the inclusion was initially surprising. But as with many things in the conference some of the best benefits came from the most unexpected directions. During this discussion we were reminded that making it for ourselves is not the only goal, but also in building a legacy for those who come behind us. In the discussion surrounding building sustainable paths for our youth to follow it was a great reminder of where real change happens: In your mind. By changing the mindset, understanding our innate abilities, and pairing rising above with giving back we can become a partner with the youth.

Between all the events and programs the other priceless part was the filling in between. Meeting those motivated, dedicated entrepreneurs in your city and from far and beyond is a great connector. The foundation is already laid as attendance shows a commitment to their business and to get better. Outside of the some of the great seminars I had the real opportunity to meet others on their own path but with a similar goal as mine. From other attorneys, to college classmates, to inventors to CEOs I got a chance to connect on the start of the work to do better and get better which is reason enough to attend an event like the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Summit.